Shattered Kingdoms

A lot of weapons in SK can be missleading, for example, the skullcrusher, an adamantite mace, is piercing. Or was last I checked (3 years ago or so?)

So yes, I suppose a rogue could use it to backstab. A backstabing mace. Heh. Priceless.

On to blitzkrieg: One large reason this skill is not used so much is just that. Most good weapons don't slash, they have deadly wrath, energy drain, or something with some cool message that won't allow the merc to blitz.

The only cool thing about this skill is its name. With my mercenary, I never really bothered using it much, except when I was leveling. In PK situations or inbetween bashes, I'd much rather use dirt kick or disarm.

Backstab is weapon types, not damage type. At least I'm positive on this one

Is that also true for circlestab? Im sure I remember a rogue using skullcrusher at some point.

Well, what lolth said is mostly true.

I've used blitz on my merc more than in leveling, but never in pvp.

For example, At some point I got caught by an infamous bunch of kobolds somewhere. Too many of em to just kill individualy, Blitz worked fine.

It also used to work fine with the old damage system against an old cabal tactic where certain NPCs would be left at cabal entrances en masse. Blitz made short work of them.

Lets face it Blitz has aways been a useless skill in PK because it has no lasting effect on your foe but does lag you priming you to be the target of a spell or a bash/trip it also does not extra damage over a normal attack which in a round you are going to get more that this 99.99% of the time.

Things that could make blitz useful.

Not needing to be the target of attacks this would open up the second rank polearm user blitz or a second front row member blitz. An interesting tactic for group combat.

It causing those hit to have lag time the same length as blitz so you could continually blitz people and hold them from bashing you back. I like this one because it to me is the reason for the skill holding off a number of foes at once by swinging massive attacks though their ranks.

Or Just major limiting its lag time or increasings its damage output and try to bribe people into using it.

Mercs don't need yet another buffing.

Just make blitz work every other round and hit everyone that is in melee with the mercenary without any input lag. Problem solved.

What we need are more cabals, less players, blitz should work like cleave and give you a chance at an insta kill or limb removal depending on where you aim, and they should add muskets to SK.

For the entire time that I've played SK (When I use to play) Even with my Merc, Blitz was the single most useless skill in my arsenal. And from what I've read here, I guess it's holding true today.

My question is, if Dulrik removed the skill from their skill list, would anyone actually miss it? If the answer is a resounding no, then you know there's something wrong heh.

- Chem

<---never used blitz ever in the seven years he's played.

Is this an accurate summary of the issues at hand?

* Blitz has too much lag time to fit effectively inside PK. While it could be used in between trips (and theoretically bashes, though that appears to be debated), it is simply more effective to dirt kick or disarm in that time.

* The majority of the best weapons in this game are not of slashing damage, which eliminates the potential to use blitz. This is not a trade-off, however, because blitz's damage output is too marginal to make it a worthy sacrifice in the face of superior weaponry.

* Blitz has no side-affects, further reducing its usefulness in comparison with bashing, disarming, and dirt kicking, all of which inhibit the opponent in some way. It also has no chance to sever limbs.

* Blitz is not targetable. The mercenary must be taking damage to blitz, eliminating usage as an opener. Because of its variable usage nature, it lacks reliability, especially in PK.